There's a new kid on the South 600 block of Elm Street: Social Status. The store's main product is high end sneakers. Those backlit lucite boxes on the wall house beautiful, name-brand tennis shoes, sneakers, or as the younger generation calls them, kicks. The store, on the same block with Elsewhere, Artmongerz, and Thrill of the Hunt and across the street from Mellow Mushroom, is configured like an upscale mall boutique. If you are in the market for hard-to-find kicks, this is your dream store. Social Status attracts yet another demographic to South Elm Street and a diverse city is a healthy city.
A Greensboro, middle-school music teacher told us a story once that she told her students they couldn't wear tennis shoes to perform at a concert. Students were shocked when they came wearing their best "kicks" and she explained they were out of dress code. In their mind, their fancy kicks were in a league above the basic white tennis shoes that their grandmothers wore; they were the most valuable article of clothing they owned. In the end, with this honest mistake, the teacher allowed them to perform. As we recall, she provided a photo demonstration to resolve the compliance issues before the next concert. If you need something to talk about with someone under 30, ask about their kicks. When making online purchases, they actually customize them.